My son is IIT IIM……I don’t care about others

The questions that worry young students and parents alike in India are:

1.What is a deadly combination of educational qualifications for a great corporate job ?
2.How my son will draw a salary as a management trainee which can be more than what I got at retirement?
3. How much wealth can be accumulated by me and my next generation ?
4. How many Second and Third homes can I invest in?
5. Where will land prices appreciate the most?

As a fast growing nation where the wealthier are getting more wealthy and the poorer getting more poor, we have to really expedite a cultural change to call ourselves progressive, educated and intelligent. Why? Read on,,,,,,

A massive change in thinking about others and about our inward happiness is a must. We glorify our highly educated and talented professionals so much that the rest who are underprivileged and unfortunate- are a distinct secondary citizens. Our idea of an intelligent professional is one who is successful in accumulating all for himself. Nowhere does our school and college education teach us values of compassion, love and consideration for the real needy and poor. Nowhere do they teach us manners that you must have when you are in public , or when are you driving in India or elsewhere and how to behave in offices in India and overseas with others. Nowhere do they teach you human values and how to be a great boss or a great individual in society. Neither anyone teaches you compassion and nor ever anyone tells you to donate something to the poor . .If anyone attempted to do that for you , then they are outdated old fashioned.

For us, competence in education is everything. We proudly rattle off our qualifications. Little do we know that despite our so called best brains and learning skills , we are a highly and grossly a community that is selfish, uncaring, non compassionate and highly ignorant of what the developed countries call as real education, and development.

So where does education and learning start? Real learning starts when you are very young and when your parents and school teachers influence your behavior and not just your academics. The real learning starts when someone teaches you to help others and be compassionate with those having problems.. No problem if you accumulate wealth but did you even give 5 percent of your wealth to the needy?. May be you were never told to do it …neither in school nor by your parents .We are taught to respect our elders but we were never taught to assist the disabled and poor. We were taught to board a crowded bus or a train but not taught to give way to others even if they are weaker than you This deficiency in our thinking gets reflected in our work later in life when even as engineers and bureaucrats we do not even think of insist on basic ramps and toilets for the disabled and wheelchair bound. . It’s all due to our grooming and training right from school days and our childhood.

The real education is not whether you are a very successful IIT IIM graduate or similar or a great doctor or engineer or lawyer or a finance professional. The real education is whether you are a human being who thinks for others. This is where developed countries beat us hands down. We are nowhere. We are a damn selfish set of people in a possessive economy. Just taking pride in our GDP growth is no sign of progress. Progress is what we can do for the poor and those in trouble. We are just nowhere in this aspect.
As a result of our inconsiderate behavior towards others we find highly qualified bosses and even average people who do not know how to behave with deputies and colleagues. We have corrupt and dishonest people who just think about themselves and make money illegally and even teachers in schools who write off and insult children with severe learning disabilities. In the developed nations like USA these things are never tolerated. It is not necessarily the law… It is their culture and upbringing that changes everything. This is the real sign of being professional and highly competent. Not being IIT-IIM and likewise . Time to redefine success to succeed as a nation. How many of our highly paid professional help society in any way or contribute even a small fraction of their wealth ?

One should see the facilities for the disabled in an educated economy . The law for implementing these things comes in much later…. …first comes the thinking and grooming to think about the others. We need not do so much as done is the developed west… but atleast a ramp and toilets for the disabled to start with. That will show we are changing.